Jane M. Keppel‐Benson

BACKGROUND: This study examined children's experiences following a motor vehicle accident (MVA). METHODS: Approximately 9 months following the accident, children (n=50) and their parents (n=50) participated in extensive interviews about the accident and in comprehensive, structured diagnostic interviews concerning overall psychological functioning. Additional assessments included post-traumatic stress questionnaires, archival police report records, and emergency treatment medical records. RESULTS: Of the 50 children, 7 children (14%) met criteria for PTSD diagnosis, and an additional 5 children met criteria for specific phobia (10%) related to the automobile accident on the structured diagnostic interview (DICA-R-C; total of 24%). Degree of physical injury predicted more PTSD symptoms, and previous accident experiences predicted fewer symptoms, before and after controlling for other variables. Holding degree of physical injury and age constant revealed that social support predicted fewer PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest the possible inoculating role of previous accidents and the importance of social support following MVA injury.

The post traumatic symptoms of children (6-16 yrs) involved in automobile accidents were assessed an average of 9 months following the event. Measures included children's ratings of post traumatic symptoms on the Reaction Index, the Impact of Events Scale, and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised (DICA-R). Results indicated a range of posttraumatic symptomatology among accident victims. Despite low levels of physical injury, approximately one fourth of the sample children reported moderate to severe levels of trauma. As expected, higher injury levels were related to more PTSD symptoms on the diagnostic interview. When controlling for injury level, bicyclists and pedestrians reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms than motor vehicle occupants. Younger children reported higher levels and more frequent PTSD symptoms. As indicated on the diagnostic interview, prior history of an accident was related to fewer PTSD symptoms, suggesting a buffering effect of prior history. Also, children who reported higher levels of social support reported less frequent PTSD symptoms. Lastly, reciprocal processes of fear and avoidance were supported as greater self-reported fear was related to increased PTSD symptomatology. A discussion of the differences between self-report and interview measures of PTSD is included, as factors related to PTSD varied according to the measurement utilized. The importance of direct assessment of children's symptoms is stressed and areas of future research are suggested.

The present study investigated the social status of learning disabled (LD) students among their non-LD peers and explored how their social acceptance related to personal attributes, behavioral characteristics, and social information processing. Subjects were 22 white, third through fifth grade LD students and 347 of their non-LD classmates. Results showed that on a play rating scale, but not on a peer nomination measure, the LD group was rated lower than non-LD students. In addition, more LD than non-LD students were found to be rejected; however, LD students were equally represented in the popular, neglected, and controversial sociometric status categories. LD students were also found to be less well known than controls. Acquaintance ratings correlated highly with friendship ratings and moderately with peer nominations, suggesting that being less well known was significantly related to being rated as an undesirable playmate. Although LD students were perceived by peers as less physically attractive, less academically skilled, and less socially skilled, as a group, these findings appear to be clouded by the effects attributable to the low status LD children. Within the LD group, high social status children did not differ significantly from controls on dependent variables. Multiple regression analyses showed that peer ratings of physical attractiveness were most predictive of peer nominations (multiple R square=.50), whereas athletic ability was found to predict 85% of the variance in friendship ratings. Social information processing deficits were not predictive of social acceptance. Results suggest that special skills or attributes appear to provide a boost needed for general social acceptance of LD students.